Alternative protein technologies including cultivated meat, precision fermentation, and plant-based products offer the potential to dramatically reduce farmed animal numbers and associated welfare harms.
Alternative protein technologies represent potentially the most transformative welfare opportunity in human history: the possibility of providing familiar food products without the welfare costs of conventional animal farming. Cultivated meat, precision fermentation, and improved plant-based products all progress along trajectories that could dramatically reduce farmed animal numbers within decades. Accelerating their development and adoption through investment, policy support, and consumer engagement could prevent suffering at extraordinary scale.